Best Ways to Use Marriott Rewards

Marriott Reward points are one of the more popular hotel currencies available to travelers. One of the big reasons is because of the large number of hotel options that travelers have. Marriott’s portfolio includes nearly 6,000 properties over many different brands. In addition, you can also use your rewards at any Ritz-Carlton. Plus, now that Marriott has purchased Starwood Hotels and Resorts, you will also be able to redeem points at their 1,200 properties as well. With this many different choices, there is something for every type of traveler.

Earning Marriott Rewards

Besides actually staying at a Marriott property, the easiest way to earn Marriott Rewards is with the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card. When you sign up for this card you will receive 75,000 Marriott Reward points after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first three months. Here are some of the best ways to use the points that you earn:

Redeem Points for Five Nights at Marriott Hotels

When you redeem your rewards, free nights will start at just 7,500 points per night for a standard award or 6,000 for PointSavers awards. Plus, one of the best features about the program is that you will receive your fifth night free when you book four consecutive award nights.

One option for redeeming your points would be to book four nights at a category five property, costing 25,000 points per night, and then your fifth night would be free. Here are a few of the options that we found:

Properties available at this price point include:

Redeem Points for Two Nights at Marriott Hotels

Another redemption option would be to book a category nine property for two nights. This would be a great option for a weekend trip where you want to stay in something a little more luxurious. Each night would cost 45,000 points. Here are a few of the options we found:

Properties available at this price point

Redeem Five Nights at a Starwood Property

Because Starwood Hotels and Resorts was purchased by Marriott in 2016, you now have the ability to transfer points from one program to the other. Transferring at a rate of three Marriott points to one Starwood point, your 100,000 Marriott Points would be worth 33,333 Starwood points. Because Starwood also has the fifth night free benefit, you could book a five-night stay at a category three Starwood property. This would cost 7,000 points per night, leaving a balance of 6,000 points for a future stay.

Properties available at this price point

Redeem Two Nights at a Starwood Property

Alternatively, you could choose to book a weekend getaway at a more upscale Starwood property. For two nights you could choose a more luxurious category five property, costing 12,000-16,000 Starwood points per night.

Properties available at this price point

Redeeming Marriott Points for Hotel + Air Package

If both you and your significant other apply for the Marriott Rewards® Premier credit card, or you have a stockpile of points, you can take advantage of Marriott Hotel + Air packages. These packages allow you to redeem Marriott Rewards for a set number of nights in a certain hotel category, plus a certain number of miles in an airline loyalty program.

Because airline miles are generally worth more than hotel points, the best Hotel + Air packages are those that include the most miles. Here is why: Starwood points can be transferred to airlines at a 1:1 ratio and when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints you will receive a 5,000-point bonus. That effectively makes Starpoints worth 1.25 miles each. Plus, because you can transfer one Starpoint into three Marriott points, that means Marriott points would be worth approximately 2.4 airlines miles. Because a lot of people value Marriott points at slightly less than one cent each, let’s assume that one Marriott point is worth two airline points.

For the sake of this example, we’ll assume you are a frequent Delta Air Lines traveler. Below is the Marriott Hotel + Air award chart for Delta Air Lines.

You could choose seven nights at a category 1-5 Marriott hotel, plus 120,000 Delta SkyMiles, all for 270,000 Marriott points. Based on our math from earlier, these 120,000 Delta SkyMiles would be worth 240,000 Marriott points. That means our seven-night hotel stay would cost just 30,000 points. Not bad considering that a category five property would cost 25,000 points per night by itself.

Cash + Points

Another great way to redeem your Marriott points is to use Cash + Points. This will allow you to combine points and cash for your stay. This could be valuable if you’d like to book a longer stay but don’t have enough points to cover the entire reservation. Marriott Cash + Points option is slightly different than other hotel chains. Marriott breaks it down by the night instead of the trip as a whole. One night you could redeem for points and another night could be for cash. Because the cash value of a room could change by the night, this will allow you to better maximize your points. Below is a graphic that gives you a better visual of how this works.

Bottom Line

Some people will prefer to use Marriott points to stay at Marriott properties, however, keep in mind you have the flexibility to enjoy the option of Starwood or Ritz-Carlton properties. No matter what your preference might be, there is a Marriott Rewards redemption option available for everyone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sean Bryant is a Denver based freelance writer specializing in travel, credit cards and personal finance. With nearly 10 years of writing experience his work has appeared in many of the industries top publications. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He also runs OneSmartDollar.com. When not working Sean enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and dog Charlie and can frequently be found on his bike or snowboard. Learn more about Sean Bryant

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Credit Cards Explained may earn affiliate commissions from our partners on this page. These commissions do not affect how we select, rate, or review products. To find out more, read our complete terms of use.